Video: Where is Debbie Hawk?

HANFORD, CALIF. — If there’s a color that makes them think of Debbie Hawk, her friends say, it’s purple.

Taryn: She was very regal and to us. She definitely fits the bill as the princess.

Eliza: She should have been a Kennedy (laughter)

But Debbie became a household name in a different way: from the missing posters hanging in her small town. Since June 13, 2006, the day 46-year-old Debbie Hawk disappeared, purple ribbons have served as reminders of a dear friend, and the hope she’ll be found.

Debbie Hawk was born in Pittsburgh and spent her teenage years in California’s Bay Area. In 1988a job selling mattresses brought her to Hanford, California, outside Fresno. Friends there set her up on a blind date with a man named David Hawk.

Dave Hawk, ex-husband: Firecracker. She was short and attractive. And a lot of fun. And pretty good sense of humor. You know, you’d say something and man, she’d pop back with something that you didn’t quite expect.

Dave was drawn to Debbie’s quick wit and vivacious energy. They married a year after their first date and settled in the farmlands of the Central Valley, where Dave comes from a family of almond growers. Debbie’s dream was to be a mom. And she got her wish — three children, a boy and two girls.

Teresa Voyles, friend: I knew something horrible must have happened because there’s no way she would not pick up her kids.

Two days after her disappearance, police discovered Debbie’s van 40 miles away, in southwest Fresno. There was blood inside, and the license plates had been replaced with stolen ones.

Investigator Darren Mattison: I believe someone went into her house specifically to hurt her.

Hanford police investigator Daren Matteson believes Debbie was surprised by her attacker in the house — incapacitated — and taken away in her van.

Mattison: Her van was transported to a place where it would either not be recognized or possibly be stolen.

Weeks passed and there was still no word from Debbie. Her friends handed out fliers with her picture and purple ribbons. Police and community volunteers combed through miles of fields and rivers for any sign of Debbie.

The case was reclassified from "missing person" to "homicide investigation."

Stafford: Do you believe there’s any chance she’s alive?

Mattison: No.

What had happened to Debbie Hawk? And who was responsible? Police weren’t sure. But they did have a “person of interest”—Debbie’s ex-husband, Dave Hawk. And some new, disturbing, information was coming out about his relationship with Debbie.

Kim Aguirre, Debbie's attorney: The issues that she was dealing with were custody and support.

Kim Aguirre is Debbie’s attorney, and it turns out, when Debbie disappeared, the exes were battling in the courts. Child support payments were one issue. Dave was supposed to be paying $553 a month for the three children and wanted to pay less, claiming he only made $6,000 a year. That’s well below the poverty level, and Aguirre found it hard to believe.

Aguirre: He lived in what I understood to be a very nice home. He drove a late model Suburban. At least, that’s what I saw when I saw him drive up to court. And it’s just, that’s hard to do on $6,000 a year.

Aguirre: Opened my car door and heard this tremendous explosion, felt it in the back of the head like I got hit with a baseball bat,

A few days later, Aguirre says he got an interesting call from Debbie Hawk.

Aguirre: She called to express a concern that maybe it was her ex-husband.

Dave says he had nothing to do with the shooting.

Stafford: Where were you when Debbie’s attorney was shot?

Dave Hawk: I was at work.

The shooting remains under investigation by the Fresno police.

In the months following Debbie’s disappearance, police came down hard on Dave Hawk, searching his home at least four times and taking away items like computers and Dave’s shoes. Police even cuffed him outside his house in full view of local television cameras. They also seized evidence, including computers, from the church where Dave sometimes worked. Dave describes it as a witch hunt.

Dave Hawk: They need to find somebody and paint him bad and hammer him.

Stafford: And you’re saying you are that somebody?

Dave Hawk: Well, I’m the ex-husband. I’m the first guy on the list.

He claims law enforcement is so determined to find him responsible, that an FBI agent threatened to make up evidence against him. He wrote down what he says the agent told him.

He wrote that the agent said ‘I dont need a body or evidence. I can manufacture that. All I need is motive. And with an ex-husband that’s easy.”

Police investigator Matteson says Dave Hawk was never threatened as he claims.

Mattison: I’m not gonna get into what Mr. Hawk believes. However, I can tell you that the FBI was professional, and did not say the things that Mr. Hawk believes he said.

Stafford: Did you have anything to do with Debbie’s disappearance?

Dave Hawk: No.

Stafford: Did you kill your ex-wife?

Dave Hawk: No.

Stafford: Are you worried in the back of their minds, your kids say, "Maybe dad did have something to do with this."